Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1, 1961 to a British noble family. Her brother, the Earl Spencer, reminisced that she was ‘incredibly brave,’ even as a young girl.

In school, the future princess failed all her O-levels — twice. However, Diana had a sense that she was destined for something important. “I knew that something profound was coming my way,” she said in the documentary “Diana: In Her Own Words.” “I was just treading water, waiting for it.”

Before her marriage, Diana reportedly shared a flat with three roommates and worked as a part-time kindergarten teacher in London’s Pimlico district.

She first met Prince Charles in 1977 when she was 16. The prince was dating her older sister at the time. Their romance didn’t begin until three years later when Diana watched Charles play polo at Balmoral Castle.

Reports indicate that the 32-year-old Charles was under pressure to marry at the time. The prince proposed to Diana in February 1981, after only a few dates. She accepted straight away. In total, Charles and Diana only met 13 times before they were married.

Their lavish, fairytale wedding ceremony received plenty of attention from the press and the public — 750 million people around the world tuned in to watch. CBS reported that the total cost of the wedding was close to $70 million in today’s dollars.

However, Diana would later describe her wedding day as “the worst day of my life,” according to Brides.com.

The subsequent honeymoon on Royal Yacht Britannia provided Diana with a chance to “catch up on sleep,” according to Vanity Fair. Upon returning home, the newlyweds moved into London’s Kensington Palace and Tetbury’s Highgrove House.

Prince William and Prince Harry have described their mother’s parenting style as informal, loving, and mischievous. “She understood that there was a real life outside of Palace walls,” William said.

Diana grew used to accompanying Charles on official visits around the world, although she reportedly expressed hope privately that “we won’t have to do any more traveling this year” in 1983. However, she quickly became a popular international figure. On her 1985 trip to the US, she turned heads by dancing with John Travolta in the White House.

But all was not well in the royal marriage, which had been on the rocks from the start. The prince and princess both reportedly engaged in extra-marital affairs.

Charles is said to have continued seeing his current wife Camille Parker-Bowles, who he had been in a relationship with before his marriage to Diana. Diana would later quip, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”

The couple formally separated in 1992. Diana ultimately went public about the breakdown of their relationship, speaking candidly about her husband’s alleged infidelity and her own struggles with bulimia, depression, and self-harm. Their divorce was finalized in 1996.

During her marriage to Charles, Diana attempted to support a huge number of charities. Upon becoming single, she resigned from about 100, in order to better focus on a few projects.

She famously became a major advocate for AIDS patients. She was photographed shaking patients’ hands without gloves. The Princess of Wales is credited with helping to change mainstream stigmas about interacting with AIDS and HIV patients.

Diana also advocated for the removal of dangerous land mines. In 1997, she even walked through an active minefield in Angola and hosted a television special on the topic.

Diana also sat on the board of the Royal Marsden Hospital, which specializes in cancer treatment.

In her personal life, Diana found love again with Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan in 1995. However, the couple broke up in 1997. That year, Diana began dating Dodi Fayed, the son of an Egyptian billionaire.

While fleeing the ever-present paparazzi, Diana, along with Fayed and driver Henri Paul, was killed in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.

Her sudden death swept the UK up in a massive display of collective grief and mourning.

Today, Diana is still remembered for her drive to help others. She once recommended that people should “carry out a random act of kindness with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.”